Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen an alarming increase in proposed scope of practice expansions.
The American Medical Association is unrelenting in opposing these expansions on your behalf to ensure patient safety at every turn. We are determined to ensure that patient care is led by highly trained physicians.
“We’ve had some important scope of practice wins in 2022, with more to come:
“Colorado and South Dakota struck down legislation allowing physician assistants to practice independently without physician oversight.
“Bills that would have expanded scope of practice for APRNs in Wisconsin, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky were defeated.
“All scope expansion efforts in Washington were thwarted, and Alabama defeated multiple bills, including a law that would have allowed optometrists to perform surgery.
“Maryland beat back multiple bills attempting to expand scope for physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and podiatrists.
“You can be sure that the AMA has your back-and we will continue the fight for patient safety and quality care while resisting unjustified scope of practice expansions.
Thank you for standing with us.
Gerald E. Harmon, MD
President
American Medical Association
The above is a note to doctors from the American Medical Association. Notice the partial admission of motives in the first part of the sentence: “The American Medical Association is unrelenting in opposing these expansions on your behalf to ensure patient safety at every turn.” (italics added)
Harmon does not explain why this will ensure patient safety. It could be true that with a doctor in charge, a patient will be safer than with a doctor not in charge. But what Dr. Harmon does not address is whether the higher rates due to restriction of competition will cause some people not only to not go to nurse practitioners but also to not go to medical professionals at all.
HT2 Ross Levatter.
READER COMMENTS
Speed
May 16 2022 at 5:20pm
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabal
Kevin Corcoran
May 16 2022 at 5:43pm
This doesn’t surprise me – if anything, this is just the AMA continuing their long established behavior. This post got me to look up some notes I had taken while reading Christy Chapin’s book Ensuring America’s Health: The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System and this quote seemed relevant:
Matthias
May 17 2022 at 12:49am
The interesting thing here is not so much the actions of the AMA itself, but the almost naked rhetoric used.
Pete
May 17 2022 at 11:28am
My thoughts exactly. They didn’t quite say “and protect your billable hours” but just barely.
If all these bills were unjustified scope of practice expansions, I wonder what they might consider a justified scope expansion. Seriously: “we’d like to expand the scope of Nurse Practitioners to reduce the cost of health care. In what situations, if any, might the AMA consider that justified?”
Roger McKinney
May 17 2022 at 11:15am
Insurance companies opposed healthcare for decades because illness isn’t a random event and for the most part controlled by the patient or age. But businesses wanted to offer health insurance as a way to get around laws prohibiting pay increases and to provide higher compensation.
Average profits for health insurance firms is only 5%, so eliminating them won’t save much. 85% of premium payments go to doctors, hospitals and drugs according to Price Waterhouse.
suddyan
May 18 2022 at 8:24am
Roger McKinney says: “85% of premium payments go to doctors, HOSPITALS and DRUGS according to Price Waterhouse.”
And there is the problem right before our very eyes.
Roger McKinney
May 17 2022 at 11:05am
Everyone needs to read From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967 by David T. Beito for a description of rational healthcare provision and how the AMA fought and destroyed it.
Jon Murphy
May 17 2022 at 2:43pm
Everyone should read that book regardless. ‘Tis an excellent book.
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